Breaking the Cycle

I recently read a talk by Carlfred Broderick, professor of sociology, University of Southern California, called Questions and Answers.  In 1987 Brother Broderick talked about children breaking the chain of abuse they endured at their parents’ hands.  I’ve read many articles about criminals who were abused by their parents, who then turned around and passed that abuse on to their children.  I always wondered how this cycle stopped.  What made one child turn into an abuser like their parents, but another child ended up opposite that? 

I think there are two things that come into play with this.  First is the gift of choice.  We all have the opportunity to make our own choices.  You can choose to be like your parents or choose not to be like your parents.  If you come from an alcoholic family, you can choose if you want to risk being an alcoholic as well.  The second thing that comes into play is God.  As Brother Broderick puts it, “through the grace of God some find the strength to ‘purge’ the poison within themselves, refusing to pass it on to future generations.”  Brother Broderick also talks about how God puts people in our lives to help us overcome the things of our past. 

I really liked how he says of those who do break the cycle.  “In suffering innocently that others might not suffer, such persons, in some degree, become as ‘saviors on Mount Zion’ by helping to bring salvation to a lineage.”

I have friends close to me who have suffered from abuse, not just by parents, but by others in their lives as well.  Instead of turning around and placing that same abuse on their own children, they stopped the cycle.  They try their hardest to provide a loving, safe home for their own children.  They are “saviors on Mount Zion.”